


Knight Complex

by sunflowerwonder



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Confused John, Emotionally Unstable Dave, M/M, Post-Sburb/Sgrub, two losers trying to work out emotional trauma yay, vignette style
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-10-14
Updated: 2012-10-23
Packaged: 2017-11-16 07:51:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/537187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflowerwonder/pseuds/sunflowerwonder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You’re not sure when things got better. You were fixing things. You had Dave by your side. You were going to be okay.</p><p>You’re not sure when Dave started getting worse. He wasn’t fixing things. He said you were the only one by his side. And you were scared, terrified really, that he wasn’t going to be okay.</p><p>(A series of one page vignettes about life, love, hope, and dealing with Dave Strider and his Post-Traumatic Sburb Disorder)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My invitation came! I'm very, very, excited.
> 
> Anyway, I thought I'd kick it off with something I've been working on between classes. My favorite part of creative writing last year was learning how to write little stories and working them into a much bigger plot. While vignettes can range in length, I like to challenge myself to create a small window into the life of these two in only one page, so the chapters will be short but regularly updated. I suppose it's best viewed with the "view entire work" button if you don't want to keep clicking next.
> 
> Anyway, thank you for clicking on this story! Please enjoy!

You had tried your hardest to make everything return to normal after the game.

Things were different, of course. Your guardians were long dead and your houses had been abandoned back on your planets. A new house had been built in the empty lot yours had left five years prior, with a new family moving into it too. 

(Some bitter part of you felt like you had been erased from existence.)

Earth was under the impression that it had just narrowly avoided the apocalypse. Lots of places had been destroyed from the meteors, lots of people had died, and lots of people were still missing. So when four kids showed up from the half a decade old wreckage, no one really thought much about it. You’d had to prove to the government you could live on your own; that you’d be fine. You were an adult now. 

(They told you your Dad was still among the missing. You didn’t feel like explaining that he was dead.) 

It wasn’t the ideal hero’s welcome, but it could have been a lot worse. It really could have been. And you still had Dave, Rose, and Jade, so what else could you asked for?  
(You tried not to think about that too much. There are a lot of things you would ask for. Starting with your first mistake of even picking up SBURB.)

Your friends were getting along well enough. Without anyplace else, Jade went back to her island. She was going to start designing sciency-things you could never hope to comprehend. Said she’d maybe try and sell them. 

Rose got a flat in New York using the fortune her mother had collected over the years. You think she’s writing a book a something. She said she wants to be left alone for a while, to “collect my philosophies and contemplate my choices” as she put it.

So that left you and Dave. Both the girls made offers for the two of you to stay with them, but Dave had declined his invitations on the pretense that the decent amount of money his Bro had left him was good enough for a small apartment in Texas for a while until he could figure out what to do with his life.

He asked you what your plans were.

You said you didn’t know.

He asked if you wanted to stay with Rose, maybe start working on Karkat’s shipping chart.

You said you thought she needed some time to herself after losing Kanaya.

He asked if you wanted to stay with Jade, maybe get your thoughts in order on the island before you went straight back into your life.

You said you’d spent way too much time with Jade and she was probably sick of you anyways.

He asked if you wanted to stay with him.

You asked him why the hell he didn’t ask sooner.

..::.::.::..


	2. Chapter 2

When you’d showed up at his house with nothing but a small duffle bag (which, honestly, is all you had left), you didn’t really know what to expect. The last time you’d seen his face he was fighting to the death next to you, which was quite a contrast to the scene sprawling out before you as he opened the door to the apartment he’d given you the address to. He was hip, of course. You were expecting that. He was nothing but the epitome of cool in his dark jeans, red hoodie, and sunglasses. But he looked happy to see you; his mouth widening into a smile even his stoic mask couldn’t stop, and when you launched yourself forward to hug him, he hugged you back with enough unironic force to shame the Strider name.

“Shit, dude I missed you.”

His head rested in the crook of your neck as he held you close, your own face burrowed into his shoulder as the hug turned from random jump into something more intimate. You felt such an overwhelming sense of happiness and protection you could hardly speak. But Dave could. He kept mumbling things to you and pulling you closer. He looked almost on the verge of tears.

“You don’t even know how much I missed you.”  
Yeah, missed you too. You douche.

“I fucking mean it.”  
I know.

“Please… Just don’t leave me again okay?”  
Wouldn’t dream of it.

“I missed you.”

He gave you one final squeeze before pulling back. He looked a little sheepish, knowing full well that embrace had gone on far longer than socially accepted by the Bro Code. But fuck the Bro Code you had your best friend back. And he had his best friend back. And it was this large overpowering feeling that made you wonder if friendship really wasn’t an emotion.

“So this is my new place?” You finally managed to say, looking around the modest apartment, mouth formed in a smile wider than you thought it could go.

“Yeah. Sorry it’s kind of shitty at the moment. I’ll keep it cleaner once we get settled I promise. And we’ll have to work pretty hard to pay for it. Houston ain’t cheap. But I think we’ll be able to afford-”

You waved a hand to dismiss his concern and physically tell him to relax. You were the last person who should be bothered by the piles of things littered around. After the state you and Jade had left your old house in after those three very long years of travelling, it’s a surprise you were able stay organized at all.

Huh. Your “old house”. There was an odd sense of closure in that.

..::.::.::..


	3. Chapter 3

Life with Dave had been difficult at first. The bustling and contemporary streets of Houston were an entirely new world, and the suburb kid still inside you would panic with even the slightest thought of navigating the streets alone. He’d showed you around though, gave you precautions, presented the humble hipster-worthy coffee shop he’d landed a job at, and even wrote down full directions to the nearest movie theater for you. He helped you unpack. He took the weekend off from work to chill with you. And soon enough you’d settled as well as you could. It was just like old times, only you were closer to him now.

(And that strange feeling of closure remained, playing with your emotions.)

The apartment was certainly tiny, but two bedrooms, a small kitchenette, a bathroom, and a living room just big enough for a TV and worn couch was all you really needed. He seemed almost too at home in it, but you supposed he’d spent his entire childhood in place similar to this. However, his childhood must have been a whole lot different than yours because you soon found the house to be one hell of a dangerous place. When you’d opened the fridge to find a Katana about to slice you in half you’d had to sit Dave down and talk about how proper domestic life works. The first time the dishwasher nearly exploded because he’d loaded it with fireworks you’d almost gotten mad at him.

(Almost. You never got mad at Dave.)

Things were falling into place rather well though. 

(“Dave! Dave! I got an interview at GameStop!”) 

And Dave had adjusted to living with you as well. 

(“Dude I think we’ve stopped all the games we need to for this lifetime.”)

But it didn’t take long for you to realize something was a little… off.

Or more specifically, Dave was a little off.

He was certainly the same loser you’d been friends with since you learned how to turn on your computer, there was no doubt about that. Dave would lie around for hours on end anywhere in the house he felt comfortable in (“Dave, who the hell lays in the middle of the hallway to listen to music.” “I do. Now shut up this is my jam.”) and he’d immerse himself fully in his turntables or art when he wasn’t working or chilling with you.

And yet there were different things too. 

Sometimes you’d look up from DS screen to see him eyeing you thoughtfully, frowning with a perplexed (or maybe it was concerned?) expression that looked so foreign on him it almost scared you. Other times he’d shut his mouth whenever you started to look bored at one of his extremely long rambling metaphors (he seemed… embarrassed? But Dave never cared what people thought of him).

The worst was when he doted though. And you were talking about full on mother-hen syndrome over here. He’d cover it up all cool and collected of course, opening doors for you in overdramatic and so-called “ironic” manners, getting you whatever you needed even if you just casually mentioned something, and always being a few inches closer to you than socially acceptable.

He’d shrug it off when you mentioned it though. Saying in a lighthearted (yet strangely forced) tone that he had the right to be nice to his best bro.

(“After all, what would I be without you, Egbert?”)

It’s comments like that that made you worry.


End file.
